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Close More Deals Using Experiential Marketing Benchmarks

Experiential marketing benchmarks can be essential for successful experiential marketing campaigns. By analyzing past performance, experiential marketers can make informed decisions that improve outcomes, optimize budgets, and increase deal closure rates. See how historical event data can predict future success and strengthen your experiential marketing strategy.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes


Leverage Engagement Rates to Predict Future Success

Understanding engagement rates is the first step in leveraging experiential benchmarks effectively. These rates are essential metrics that show how many people interact with your activation during a campaign.

However, measuring engagement rates on a daily basis can be misleading. This is because activations with different staffing levels can skew results. In order to maximize insights, calculating engagement rates by staffing hours provides a reliable benchmark for estimating future campaign performance.

Here’s how:

Consider this Scenario:

You want to estimate the engagement rate that you can expect from Venue A versus Venue B. Historical data shows that Venue A engaged with 360 patron per day, and Venue B engaged with 160 per day.

You might instinctively gravitate towards Venue A because it has higher engagement rates. However, Venue A had 6 brand ambassadors working 6 hour shifts and Venue B had two brand ambassadors working four 4 hours.

Using our formulas from above:

At first glance, Venue A seems more successful, but when adjusted for staffing hours, Venue B delivers twice the engagement efficiency.

Evaluating engagements by the staffing hour creates an apples-to-apples comparison. This offers a reliable predictor of future engagement rates, allowing for better decision-making and a strategic advantage.

Validate Your Experiential Marketing Budget with Cost Per Engagement Estimates

Cost per engagement is a crucial metric that helps validate budgets and assess efficiency. By dividing the total campaign budget by the number of engagements, marketers can determine if their proposed spending aligns with past performance.

This comparison against experiential marketing benchmarks reveals whether costs are in line with historical trends, or a risky investment for your marketing plan, ensuring the campaign remains cost-effective and competitive.

Focus on Quality Engagements to Target the Right Consumers

High engagement numbers don’t guarantee success—reaching the right audience does. This principle is central to PortMA’s methodology. Historical data allows marketers to:

  • Segment audiences by demographics, such as age, gender, or industry.
  • Analyze which audience groups respond best to experiential activations.
  • Ensure outreach efforts align with high-value consumer targets.

Focusing on quality engagements helps drive stronger purchase intent and brand loyalty while uncovering opportunities to refine targeting strategies.

Key Takeaways

By leveraging experiential marketing benchmarks effectively, you can create more compelling proposals, set realistic expectations, and build stronger client relationships. A data-driven approach helps you:

  • Track performance metrics consistently across campaigns
  • Make informed decisions about resource allocation
  • Demonstrate clear ROI to stakeholders

A successful experiential marketing campaign comes from consistently measuring, analyzing, and applying insights from your campaign data to make actionable decisions.

Not only can this improve your campaign performance, but it distinguishes you from competitors. When you present clients with clear data and actionable insights, you establish yourself as a trusted partner who delivers concrete results.

Your Experiential Marketing Measurement Blueprint

STOP FLYING BLIND

Take Actions to Prove the Value of Your Next Experiential Marketing Campaign

Your events are fantastic. And you know they work. The problem is proving that they work. 

Your recap reports are beautiful but counting up impressions (and hoping no one asks how you did it) then filling a PowerPoint with photos of smiling consumers doesn’t work like it used to.  Even the sizzle reel is getting old.

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